Heretofore the use of pulse oximeter probes has been limited to the use of a costly, reusable probe, which is contaminated by use on a patient, or cheaper, single-use, disposable probes, which in the aggregate, amount to a considerable cost for a healthcare institution. The current applicant in his U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,144,868, 6,321,100 and 6,343,224, and subsequent continuations-in-part, has described a reusable pulse oximeter probe with modular probe housings and a disposable bandage apparatus having at least two modular receptacles thereon. The probe housings can matedly engage said bandage receptacles, and transmit and receive signals through the blood-profused flesh of a patient when said probe and bandage apparatus are resident on a patient. After use on a subject, the disposable bandage apparatus is discarded and the reusable probe can then be reused on another patient in conjunction with a new disposable bandage apparatus.
Although the previously described bandage is very good, there are, in some instances, cases whereby it would be advantageous to offer disposable bandage apparatii having different designs in order for them to work efficiently in a particular situation.
In some cases, female patients will have long fingernails. When a bandage apparatus includes two receptacles with a particular, fixed spacing between the receptacles, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to align the receptacles exactly opposite one another on the finger in order to allow for proper transmission and reception of signals between the light-emitting diode and the photocell detector. In these cases, it could be preferable to offer two bandage apparatii that may be placed independently of one another.
In many cases, it could also be advantageous to have two bandage apparatii connected by a biasing member in order to assure exact alignment of the light-emitting diode and photocell detector on either side of a patient's digit.
Where patients have low peripheral profusion, it may be necessary to affix a probe to an ear or a forehead. Several designs of bandage apparatii are therefore disclosed for these applications.
In addition, when pulse oximetry is used on the forehead, it would be necessary to use a reflectance sensor and corresponding bandage apparatus. Disclosure is therefore made for this type of device as well.